Former Princeton University president addresses low college graduation rates in latest book

Andrew Mills/The StarFormer Princeton President William Bowen and two others have written a book about public universities called, "Crossing the Finish Line," about low college graduation rates.Low college graduation rates have been ignored or excused by higher education and political leaders for decades. Finally, one of the nation’s most revered experts has demanded his colleagues face the issue.

"They have been embarrassed to admit it," said William Bowen, the former Princeton president who has spent his retirement issuing books on controversial topics -- affirmative action, collegiate sports, and, now, dismal college graduation rates.

His latest study, published by the Princeton University Press, is "Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities." It warns of a "surprisingly stagnant state of overall educational attainment in the United States."

Outsiders might think his criticism is mild. He doesn’t reveal statistics from specific institutions; his criticisms are euphemistic. He is, after all, a member of the club.

But it is precisely Bowen’s status that makes his study so devastating. That, and the amount of data freely given to him and co-author Michael McPherson -- another respected leader, past president of Macalester College -- by universities throughout the nation. No one inside the field can credibly dispute their conclusion that America’s "failure of educational attainment" is a serious problem.

"Let’s face it, if I had wanted to do this study alone and asked for the data, I would have been laughed at," said Matthew Chingos, a Harvard doctoral student in charge of compiling data about students from 21 of the nation’s leading public universities -- including Rutgers. "They trusted Bill Bowen."

Locally, consider this: The highest four-year college graduation rate among public colleges in New Jersey has been attained by The College of New Jersey, the former Trenton State College, but it is only 68 percent.

The lowest is at New Jersey City University -- once Jersey City State -- only six percent. Three other schools -- Kean, William Paterson and the New Jersey Institute of Technology -- have 16 percent graduation rates after four years.

After The College of New Jersey, the next highest completion rates are posted by Ramapo College (53 percent) and Rutgers in New Brunswick (49 percent).

For years, college leaders argued that graduation in four years is no longer the standard. They should be judged by six-year -- or even eight-year -- rates. Even with an eight-year perspective, Jersey City fails to graduate two-thirds of its entering students.

Bowen dismisses reliance on longer undergraduate careers. He said excusing delayed graduations increases costs of education to parents, students and taxpayers. It also leads to more college dropouts.

"Far more resources end up getting spent per student than would be the case if students moved speedily through the system," said Bowen, 74, in an interview at the Princeton offices of Ithaka, a foundation he established to link technology and scholarship. "Taking more time is not good for anyone financially."

McPherson, in a telephone interview, notes that previous studies have shown graduates need eight to 10 years to recover economically from spending four years in college earning a degree, losing job experience, and building up loan debt.

"The longer it takes to graduate, the less time men and women have to establish themselves. There is a real price for graduates as well as institutions and taxpayers," he said.

It is a self-reinforcing problem. College presidents excuse delay and help create expectations students should not graduate in four years. Selective private colleges and universities have opposite expectations -- students are expected to graduate in four years.

"Many public institutions have completely lost the notion that a student is a member of a class," such as the Class of 2010, Bowen said. "Students no longer say they are a junior or a senior, because they really don’t know."

At selective private institutions, undergraduates are expected to graduate with their class — the group of students with whom they entered.

The study produced surprises -- most notably the destructiveness of what the authors call "undermatching," encouraging poor and minority students to enroll in less selective colleges because they will be better able to compete. It turns out, Bowen said, that even students without the best backgrounds do better in more selective institutions than they do in easier colleges.

"That is probably the most important finding, one we will be working on in the future," Bowen said.

The authors also insist that financial aid needs to be simplified and dedicated more to need than to academic merit. McPherson notes that public institutions spend more of their financial aid on merit awards than do private colleges.

They argue for the creation of discretionary funds to allow college officials to rescue students from unexpected financial problems that cause them to drop out.

"High-income students often can work around an unexpected event like the car breaking down," said McPherson. "It’s a blip. But it can derail a low-income student’s college career."

Bowen is hopeful college leaders and politicians are now more receptive to admitting they have a problem and doing something about it. He notes President Obama has spoken publicly about improving college graduate rates.

"I know it can be threatening to some, but we have no choice but to look at the problem," he said.